Escape apparatus for submarines.



R.BRUNET;

ESCAPE APPARATUS FOR SUBMARINES.

APPLIQATION FILED NOV. 1, 1915.

Patented May 16, I916.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

R. BRUNET.

ESCAPE APPARATUS FOR SUBMARINES.

' APPLICATION FILED NOV; 1, 1915- 1,1 83,1 63. v Patented May 16, 1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

. the doors and their operating mechanism.-

RENE BRUNET, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ESCAPE APPARATUS FOR SUBMARINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 1, 1915. Serial No. 59,041.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RENE BRUNE citizen of Canada, and resident of the city of New York, in the county of New York and State ofNew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Escape Apparatus for Submarines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to submarine vessels and particularly to escape apparatus for submarines and to devices for controlling the operation of said apparatus.

The invention relates to various other-features of major or minor importance which will be pointed out in the following description, and the drawings which form a part of this specification and inwhich similar reference characters refer to similar parts in the several figures. I

:Figure 1 is a plan View of a submarine vessel with parts broken away. -Fig. 2 is a fragmentary horizontal section showing Fig.3 is a fragmentaryside elevation with portions broken away, showing parts of the door operating mechanism. Fig. 4 is a detail view partly in section showing the mechanism by which the sea doors may be manually operated. Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view showing the electric circuits which 0on trol the motor for operating the door mechanism. Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view of the piping and automatic valve for controlling the turbine adapted to operate the door mechanism.

The submarine vessel is provided with safety compartments A and B, preferably onopposite sides of the vessel as shown in Fig. 1. Both of these compartments are identical and therefore a description of one will cover both.

The object of the safety compartments is to provide means of escape for the crew in the event of an accident to the submarine, as fully set forth in my co-pending applicationz filed July 31st, 1915, Serial Number 429 0.

Each safety compartment is provided with.

a door C which communicates with the interior D of the submarine e'e and sliding sea doors E- and F provided with latches which communicate with the outside and 'form an exit to be used by the crew when necessary. The mechanism for operating the sea doors E and F is so constructed that they may be operated by either electricmo- 9 also carries a gear 12. Pivoted at 27 of4a motor 28.

tor, air turbine or manual labor. The controlling mechanism for all three forms of power is located within the safety com-1 partment, but is so designed that themotor and turbine controls may also be operated from the interior of the submarine proper.

A rack l is secured to the door F as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Secured to a shaft 4 is the pinion 5 adapted to co-act with the rack 1. Also secured to shaft 4 is a bevel gear '6 meshing with a similar gear 7 carried by a shaft 8 which is adapted to be driven by shaft 9 through gears 10. and 11. The shaft 13 to the sidewall 14 is agear case .15 which carries the hand driving mechanism, comprising a crank 16 secured to a stub shaft to which the bevel gear 17 is secured. -A similar gear 18 is secured to the shaft 19' which also carries a worm gear 20. The shaft 21 carries the worm wheel 22 which engages the worm 20, and also carries. a gear 23 adapted to coact with the gear 12, at such times that it is desired to operate the shaft 4 by manual labor. that by swinging thegear case 15 on its pivot 13 the gears 23 and l2 will un-mesh and .thus disconnect the manual drive. A latch 24 is provided to keep the parts in their operative position and a hook and eye 25 is provided to hold the parts out of engagement when desired. Normally these parts are held out of engagement and are provided only to be used in event of the power driven devices failing to operate.

Loosely mounted on the shaft 4 is the sleeve 26 to which is secured the armature The sleeve 26 is formed with. an enlarged flange 29 at its outer end and provided with clutch teeth, adapted to co-act with the complementary clutch member 30 which is keyed on the shaft 4 in such manner that it may have longitudinal movement. The rotor 31 of a turbine 32 is secured to Patented May 16, 1916. I

It will be readily seen a sleeve 33 loosely mounted on shaft 4. This manner'as to permit of longitudinal movej ment thereof. Fixed to the shaft 4 is a gear 37. Mounted for rotation in close proximity to the shaft 4 is a short shaft 38 having a gear 39 secured thereon and a reversing gear 40 keyed thereon in such a" manner as to permit of longitudinal movement. The gear 39 meshes with an idler 41 which in turn meshes with the gear 34. From the foregoing description it will be obvious that when the shaft 4 turns counter-clockwise the doors E and F will be opened, and that when the shaft 4 turns clockwise the doors E and F will be closed, the said doors being interconnected by cables 42, 43, 4'4 and 45, passing over rollers 46, 47, 48 and 49. The clutch members 30 and 36 are operated by fingers 50 and 51 which are secured to a longitudinal rod 52, mounted to slide freely in the bearings 53 and 54. Near one end the rod 52 is provided with rack teeth 55 which engage the pinion 56, which is secured to the control shaft 57 carrying the operating hand wheels 58 and 59.

The operation of the above control mechanism will now be described. The clutch members are shown in their inoperative or neutral position and the manual driving mechanism is shown as engaged; (Figs. 2 and 4). In this condition, by turning the crank 16, the shaft 4 will be rotated through gears 17, 18, 20,22, 23, 12, 10, 7 and 6. As the armature 27 of the' motor 1s mounted on a sleeve loosely mounted on shaft 4, and the rotor 31of the turbine is similarly mounted, the only work to be done is that of opening the doors. When it is desired to operate the doors by motor, the gear case 15 is swung on its pivot and held out of gear by the hook 25. Then, either of the Wheels 58 or 59 is turned clockwise thereby causing the rod 52 to move longitudinally carrying the fingers 50 and 51 with it. .The finger 50 will cause the clutch member 30 (keyed to the shaft) to engage the similar member 29 which is carried by the sleeve 26 to which the armature 27 is secured.

Then, by operating an electric switch to be hereafter more fully described, the motor will cause the shaft 4 to rotate in the proper direction to open the doors E and F. If for any reason the motor 28 is out of order the doors then may be operated by the compressed air turbine 32, by turning the hand wheels 58 and 59 counter-clockwise, thereby disengaging the motor clutch and engaging the clutch members 36 and 35 thus mechanically coupling the rotor 33 to the shaft 4. The closing of the doors is a simple matter with, the motor and manual drive, the motor being reversed by means of a pole changing switch and the manual drive by merely changing the direction of effort. WVith the turbine, reversing gears have to be used as the rotor cannot be run backward. It will be noted that the finger 51 is held against a collar 60 bya stiff spring 61. When the rod 52 has moved far enough to engage the clutch 35 the finger 51 willcontact with a stop 62 and a further movement of this rod will cause the spring 61 to be compressed thus permitting the rod to move on. This further movement of rod 52 will cause the detent 63 carried thereby to engage a lug on the gear shifting lever 64 which causes gear 40 to mesh with gear 37 thereby operating to reverse the direction of rotation. The shaft 4 is split at 65, and normally the power is transmitted around this split by gears 66, 67, 68 and 37. \Vhen the reversing mechanism is operated the gears 67 and 68 are thrown out of mesh with gears 66 and 37 by suitable mechanism operated by the rod 52 but omitted from the drawings for sake of clearness.

From the foregoing it will be seen that there are two power methods of operating the doors and should these fail the manual device could be resorted to, which isso geared up as to provide a very powerful drive. The electric motor may be reversed by operating a pole changing switch 69 as shown in Fig. 5 which is in circuit with the storage battery 70 and the motor 28. To prevent the over heating or burning out of the motor when the doors have reachedthe limit of their backward travel an automatic switch 71 is provided. This switch is normally held in the position shown by a spring 72, but as the door F and rack 1 carrying a cam 73 reach the limit of their backward travel the cam 73 will engage the roller on switch 71 and disconnect it from contact 74 thus breaking the motor circuit. The switch will then engage contact 75 which is in-circuit with a hand operated switch 76. The switch76 is located in safety compart ment and when closed it will allow current to again flow through the motor. operating the pole changing switch and then the switch 76, the motor will operate to close the sea doors. 1 Y

Means for automatically shutting off the air from the turbine 32 are shown in Fig. 6. A compressed air tank '77 is supplied with air in the usual manner. A pipe 78 provided with a valve7 9 leads to an automatic valve 80 adapted to be operated by the backward movement of cam 73. A pipe 81 connects this valve to the inlet side of the turbine 32. A by-pass pipe 82 is shunted around the valve 79 and is provided with a valve 83 located within the safety compartment. A branch pipe 84 provided with a normally closed valve 85 connects the pipe 82 with the automatic valve 80. When it is 'desired to close the doors by bompressed air, either of the valves 7 9 or 83 may be opened which Will allow air to enter the turbine to drive same and by operating the control for the clutches heretofore described the doors will be caused to open. As the doors reach their rearmost position the cam By first.

73 will operate the valve 80 by turning the .8

plug of said valve counter clockwise, thus shutting off the air from the pipe 78, and

the valve 85 opened to admit air through the then turned valve. Each of the safety compartments is provided with a sight glass a in one wall and each door F with a similar glass f. The door F is also provided with a valve f for the purpose to be presently described.

\Vhen the crew wish to escape from a submarine equipped with my invention they enter in shifts of six, or more, according to the size of the safety compartments, to either of the compartments A'or Bthrough the door C and admit compressed air into same through valve a so as to equalize the air pressure in the compartment to that of the' outside water pressure, thus keeping the water out of said compartment; then by disengaging the latches e, and operating either the switch 69, the valve 83 or the.

crank 16, the doors E and F may be opened and the crew permitted to make-their .escape into the water. Doors E and F are then closed by one of the crew inside of the submarine, who will be able to see into the compartment through the sight glass (1 If compressed air system is disabled [before opening the doors E and F the valve f is gradually opened to permit the water to enter the compartment until nearly full, helping to equalize the pressure on both sides of the door. prevent the crew from being held by the pressure against the Walls of the safety comobviously to see 'partment of a submarine Bars a are provided to partment; it being understood that the water behind the bars will equalize the pres sure on the crew and increase their chances of escape. After doors E and F are closed the water can be pumped out by pump G. The purpose of sight glass fin door F is outside of the submarine.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. In combination with the safety compartment of a .submarine, a plurality of power door operating mechanisms, and a manual operating mechanism, means for 2. In combination with the safety c0m sea doors a pluopening and closmeans for operatively connecting any one of said power units to said doors, and means for controlling said connecting means.

3. In combination with partment of a submarine sea doors, means for operating said doors comprising an elecrality of power units for ing said doors,

tric motor, a turbine and manually operated gearing, means for selectively connecting either said motor, said turbine or said man- .ually operated gearing to said doors.

Signed at 159 St. Nicholas ave., in the,

county of New York and State of New York this 29th day of Got. A. D. 1915.

' RENE BRUNET.

Witnesses: J. A. BUTLER,

E. MCKAHARAY.

the safety com- '50 controlling said mechanisms, and. selective 1 a -means for sald controlling means. 

